Joshua Kannon Claypole's father traveled from Argentina to a San Jose hospital to decide whether to remove Claypole from life support, defense attorney John Klopfenstein said.

On Friday, Claypole appeared disoriented in court as he pleaded not guilty to murdering taxi cab driver Daniel Garcia Huerta, 44, of Salinas.

Huerta was stabbed nearly 30 times in a parking lot at 1178 Del Monte in Monterey Wednesday afternoon. The Monterey Yellow Cab Company driver was pronounced dead at the scene and Claypole was captured a few hours later, police Lt. Leslie Sonne said.

"My heart is destroyed," Huerta's widow, Alma Huerta, said at Friday's arraignment. "My husband was a person who dedicated his life, 100 percent, to his work and his family."

Huerta is survived by his widow and two daughters.

"This heartless person destroyed our lives," Alma Huerta said.

The slaying appears to have been random and unprovoked. Huerta had picked Claypole up outside a Wells Fargo Bank at Crossroads in Carmel, and, for an unknown reason, police said Claypole brutally stabbed the driver inside the taxi when they reached Monterey.

On Saturday, Claypole was found hanging from bed sheets in his Monterey County Jail cell at 2:30 p.m., Sheriff's Cmdr. J. Mendoza said. Jail officials determined it was a suicide attempt because no other inmates had been in Claypole's cell.

"Due to the charges and his notoriety, Mr. Claypole was housed in a single-person cell for his protection," Mendoza said. "A deputy conducting a routine health and welfare check discovered him hanging. Lifesaving measures were immediately undertaken by deputies and medical staff."